How to Make (a LOT of) Ribbon with a Serger!

I’m willing to bet that there are a few people out here who, just like me, have cute holiday fabric in their scrap bins they aren’t sure what to do with. I realized that with just a 9″ by 44″ wide cut of fabric, you can make ELEVEN yards of 1″ wide ribbon in 10 minutes or less – all you need is fabric and a serger! (Wait, hold up, what’s a serger? Read this post!)

Here’s my 9″ x 44″ strip of fabric. I kept it simple for the step-by-step photos, but you could just as easily piece together a bunch of scraps to make a strip of any length or width you like, as long as you’re starting with a rectangle. 

Fold it right sides together and offset the ends by the desired width of your ribbon. I’m starting with a 1″ width here. Offsetting the ends is what’ll allow you to serge this thing by sewing in a loop!

Serge the edges together to remove any selvage markings. You’ll have that 1″ (or whatever other width you choose) hanging off on each side.

Turn it right side out. Set it on your machine so that the desired width of your ribbon hangs off to the right of your cutting blades. When we start serging, the ribbon is all going to fall off to the right as we go around! Ready, set, go! I just eyeballed the 1″ish width as I went by following the markings on my serger.

When you’ve finished one whole revolution you’ll get back to the seam where you started, but because the edges are offset you’re just going to keep going and going and going until you get all the way to the end!

Then you’ll serge the other side. DONE! Fast! Easy, right? Put those scraps to work for you!